You Wake Up One Day, And You Realize Change Happened To You

Can I show you what I watched on Tuesday night while writing Elite Program papers?

It sure wasn't linear television via YouTube TV.

I start with an eight minute daily show outlining the world of dirt late model racing and dirt sprint car racing.

I know, I could do screen shots on my laptop, but you have to remember, I'm writing Elite Program papers right now.

Up next? Watching a 5.0 level 13 year old play pickleball with his Dad.

Then it's a half-hour daily show from an ag company outlining weather patterns across the United States, the Pacific, and the Atlantic.

And finally, it's the Men in Blazers featuring an appearance by Michael Davies, sporting his L.L. Bean attire.

All this seemed perfectly normal to me until I realized that prior to COVID, I would have done NONE OF THIS WHATSOEVER. I'd be reviewing a network television guide featuring a prime time game show called The Quiz With Balls (yes, that's a thing).

I realized that change happened to me. It happened slowly, then all at once.

It's like all of a sudden realizing that Alibaba is doing more than a hundred billion dollars of worldwide commerce.

My working hypothesis is that when we were sent home for COVID, we immediately began inventing the future. It took years for all the puzzle pieces to fit together, but when it finally fit together, wooo boy did things change. It happened behind the scenes ... and then all of a sudden ... there it is!!

You'd be interested to know that my client list is a U-shaped curve right now ... either performance is awful, or performance is off-the-charts spectacular ... very few folks in-between. Those on the positive side of the "U" are doing things differently. They have a marketing hook, they have a product hook, they have a community hook (which is why I keep talking about this), and they often have an in-house influencer who is the "expert" of the brand ... is the person who is trusted, is the person who potential customers look up to. They've accepted change.

The "community hook" is something I will continue to share with traditional brands who view customers as "lists" or as a "housefile". Your community represents your better customers who want to interact with your brand and help potential customers. You community solves problems. Your community recommends new products/services. You have at least one individual, often a half-dozen +/- who manage the community. Think of the community as your "list" of great customers, brand advocates, and future customers. When you think of it that way, you become very interested in managing your community, right?

Anyway, 2024 is one of my favorite years in marketing, to date. It's just so fun to see what people are doing.